Nine die in Baluchistan from carbon monoxide poisoning

The incident happened in Killi Karbala village, 70 kilometres (40 miles) north of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

“These people were asleep in the same room and inhaled poisonous gases emitted by an electricity generator installed outside their room,” senior local administration official Bashir Ahmad Bazai told AFP.

He said the nine — three women and six children — were found dead Thursday morning.

Frequent blackouts due to a long-standing energy crisis in Pakistan have forced many to turn to generators to power their homes, but safety standards are generally low and deaths due to carbon monoxide inhalation are not uncommon.

Baluchistan is Pakistan‘s largest but least developed and most sparsely populated province, wracked for decades by a separatist insurgency. (AFP)